The Wadena-Deer Creek Wolverines flashed their defensive skills Tuesday night as they held Staples-Motley in check for a 47-34 victory. "It was a great defensive game," WDC head coach Keith Ferris said after watching his squad reel off their third straight victory. "Both defenses played very physical." Ferris felt the Wolverines prevailed because of their ability to score in transition and hold the Cards to just 14 points in the second half on their home court. Courtney Volkmann and Rachel Craig sparked WDC in the second half scoring 20 of the team's 24 points.

Bob Tubandt is beginning to pay a price for the success of his boxing program. The popular Wadena coach had 30 kids show up on the first night of practice for the 2010 season. He put all of them through the wringer and then two nights later waited to see which ones would show back for a second helping. They all showed up. Tubandt can only grin, shake his head and be grateful. "I think they believe the program is a good program and they just want to be part of it," Tubandt said. The Wadena Golden Gloves Boxing Club's first card is Saturday, Dec. 18, at the Wadena Armory.

A slow start in their season opener proved costly Tuesday night as the Wadena-Deer Creek Wolverines lost a 52-37 decision to Long Prairie-Grey Eagle. The Thunder opened a 13-3 lead in the first half and took a 29-12 advantage into halftime. The Wolverines were just four of 21 from the field in the first half. "It came down to our shooting percentage in the first half," WDC head coach Tom VanErp said.

The scoring skills of Joey Hanowski, Adam Dougherty and Luke Majerle led Little Falls to a 21-0 victory Tuesday night over Wadena-Deer Creek. Hanowski finished with four goals and three assists, Dougherty came up with a hat trick and four assists and Majerle scored a hat trick and assisted on one goal. Mike Anez had two playmakers for the Flyers with three assists in the first period and three more in the third.

Mitch Steffens earned a first at 119 and the Wadena-Deer Creek Wolverines placed second Saturday in the Wolverine Invitational. Class A's sixth-ranked wrestler posted a 16-5 major decision over Thief River Falls' Austin Hjelle in the championship match. Four WDC wrestlers earned runner-up honors. WDC's Sam Waln was decisioned 6-2 by Badger-Greenbush-Middle River's Ryan Bergeron. Jared Wegscheid was defeated 5-2 by Thief River Falls' Holden Nelson at 140. Along the way Wegscheid tied two other wrestlers for the tournament's fastest pin with a fall at the 34-second mark.

I have owned gun dogs that are good at reminding me of a rule you always obey in upland hunting -- once you start out on a hunt you better not stop. That dog is not going to stop until it hits paydirt so if you do it is your own fault if the bird flushes wild. The Minnesota Vikings started building a Super Bowl team the year Childress arrived. Zygi and Mark Wilf were going to finally bring an NFL championship to Minnesota no matter what it cost. They went from 8-8 to 10-6 to 12-4 and then they lost their focus.

Supper was not quite on the table for some area residents Nov. 24 when the power failed for 1,784 Todd-Wadena Electric customers. Todd-Wadena buys electrical power from Minnesota Power and when a piece of equipment at a sub-station in Verndale failed, the resulting outage left customers in Wadena, Verndale and Aldrich in the dark. According to a report which Todd-Wadena line superintendent Mark Christianson received from Minnesota Power, a transformer and bus locked out for safety reasons. A lockout prevents further trouble but it also forces crews to respond.